Episode 43

How to Be an Authentic Sales Leader with Kris Krustangel

Published on: 27th October, 2021

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In this episode of The Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be sitting down with Kris Krustangel, Vice President of Business Development at Saluda Medical, a global neuromodulation company leading the development and commercialization of data-driven, personalized therapies for patients with chronic pain. The company’s first product, Evoke®, is a closed-loop spinal cord stimulator (SCS) system designed to treat chronic pain, a condition that affects more than 540 million people globally. He focuses on innovating strategies for success while increasing the capacity of his team’s performance along the way. 

Passion, authenticity, and results have been consistent themes in his career. Having started in pharma, he then took on a 20-year career in medical devices. He served in many roles from a clinical specialist to a frontline manager and everything in between. Kris joins us to share his journey and impart great lessons and insights from his sales experience for those who are in pharma and want to make that pivot to medical devices. He also tells us about his passion for helping and serving other people, showing us how true leaders work and how they inspire. Don’t miss out on this valuable 26-minute episode.

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

  • Starting out in pharmaceutical sales then pivots into medical device sales and ends up as the Vice-President of Business Development of a global neuromodulation company (01:46)
  • The overall experience he had working in the operating room (03:05)
  • Selling a solution while becoming the solution to the target customer’s need (05:06)
  • Transitioning into leadership and his passion for helping and challenging others (06:12)
  • Leaving an established company to join a startup (06:59)
  • Being successful consistently by learning to prioritize and focus (08:09)
  • How he helps his team manage their time so they can always stay on track (10:40) 
  • Why it’s important for leaders to act early when it comes to performance conversations (13:49)
  • Empathy + technical skills to work successfully in the neuromodulation space (15:57)
  • Achieving clarity and focus when working for a startup (19:00)
  • Having the wisdom and confidence to know what you know and the humility of what you don’t know (23:54)

Connect with Kris Krustangel:

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

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Transcript
Wesleyne Greer:

As a sales manager, you are judged by the

Wesleyne Greer:

performance of your team, and you're praised when they do

Wesleyne Greer:

well. But one thing that you've not been able to figure out is

Wesleyne Greer:

how to get everyone on your team consistently hitting quota every

Wesleyne Greer:

single month. On the Snack size sales podcast, we discuss the

Wesleyne Greer:

science of selling stem sales leadership in the science,

Wesleyne Greer:

technology, engineering and manufacturing fields is

Wesleyne Greer:

difficult. You will learn from sales managers just like you

Wesleyne Greer:

that will give you actionable insights and tips on how to

Wesleyne Greer:

develop as a leader and achieve your revenue targets every

Wesleyne Greer:

single month. So pop your headphones in and get ready to

Wesleyne Greer:

listen to my guests today. They will give you information and

Wesleyne Greer:

inspiration to ensure that you have actionable insights that

Wesleyne Greer:

you can put into place today. Hello, and welcome to another

Wesleyne Greer:

episode of the science of selling today. I have Chris,

Wesleyne Greer:

Chris angel with me. How are you, Chris?

Kris Krustangel:

I'm great. Thank you for having me on

Kris Krustangel:

today.

Wesleyne Greer:

I'm so excited to chat with you. Let me tell

Wesleyne Greer:

you guys a bit about Chris. He's a proven medical device

Wesleyne Greer:

executive with over 20 years of experience. He focuses on

Wesleyne Greer:

innovating strategies for success while increasing the

Wesleyne Greer:

capacity of his team's performance along the way. He

Wesleyne Greer:

has passion, authenticity and results that have been a

Wesleyne Greer:

consistent theme in his career. Wow, those are some strong words

Wesleyne Greer:

passion, authenticity, and results. We don't typically see

Wesleyne Greer:

those three words together for sales. People tell me about how

Wesleyne Greer:

did you get started in your career?

Kris Krustangel:

Yeah, well, first, I gotta tell you, my wife

Kris Krustangel:

wrote that. So I had to get started my career I have always

Kris Krustangel:

been focused it trying to bring people or organizations or

Kris Krustangel:

groups value. And as a byproduct, you know, trying to

Kris Krustangel:

be around really smart people, really talented organizations as

Kris Krustangel:

I've had that opportunity. So out of college, got into

Kris Krustangel:

pharmaceutical sales, really enjoyed that opportunity enjoyed

Kris Krustangel:

being in healthcare, but was looking for something maybe just

Kris Krustangel:

a little bit more challenging for me. So about 17 years ago, I

Kris Krustangel:

started medical devices in a segment called neuromodulation,

Kris Krustangel:

which for our particular area works with patients who have

Kris Krustangel:

chronic pain, we're basically trying to help them with small

Kris Krustangel:

electrical impulses, endure their pain and survive with

Kris Krustangel:

their pain, kind of like a pacemaker. And I've been with in

Kris Krustangel:

that space for the last 17 years started as a clinical specialist

Kris Krustangel:

to this the person that assists the physicians and surgeries,

Kris Krustangel:

and helps the patients with the therapy all the way up into my

Kris Krustangel:

current role, which is the Vice President of Business

Kris Krustangel:

Development for a startup in the space of neuromodulation. Right

Kris Krustangel:

now.

Wesleyne Greer:

So you know, one thing that I have learned

Wesleyne Greer:

recently, really through my podcast is the fact that medical

Wesleyne Greer:

device sales people typically are like in the O R, like

Wesleyne Greer:

they're right there with the surgeon. So tell me about like

Wesleyne Greer:

some of your early experiences with that. But I'm

Kris Krustangel:

not sure I'm the best person to ask that.

Kris Krustangel:

That's because they wanted me to get into leadership before I

Kris Krustangel:

spent too much time in the operating room. But now do be

Kris Krustangel:

honest with you, it is a very unique and really exciting

Kris Krustangel:

component of what we do. Because all across medical device, there

Kris Krustangel:

are usually situations where you're walking into the

Kris Krustangel:

operating room, you're not scrubbed in, you're not you're

Kris Krustangel:

not a surgeon, but you're assisting the room conducting

Kris Krustangel:

this kind of outcome for a patient, right, so they're

Kris Krustangel:

having a surgery, or they're having an implant or there's all

Kris Krustangel:

these people in the room that are there to help and the

Kris Krustangel:

medical device rep is one of those individuals for my

Kris Krustangel:

particular device in neuromodulation, better known as

Kris Krustangel:

spinal cord stimulation, there's actually a part where the device

Kris Krustangel:

gets put into the patient, and the entire surgery stops. And

Kris Krustangel:

they look at you and they say okay, Chris, you're on. And your

Kris Krustangel:

job is to calibrate the device in real time to the patient with

Kris Krustangel:

their feedback. And once the patient's okay with that, and

Kris Krustangel:

the physician is okay with that, then they basically progress the

Kris Krustangel:

surgery and send the patient on their way. So what I do you're

Kris Krustangel:

really, really involved in to make it even a little more

Kris Krustangel:

unique is when the patient gets implanted with their device, we

Kris Krustangel:

continue to interact with them just like a pacemaker. So they

Kris Krustangel:

have our cell phones, we're talking to them. They're talking

Kris Krustangel:

to people that work for the organizations that provide the

Kris Krustangel:

product to make sure that they're having success with the

Kris Krustangel:

length of their therapy. Now, that's the minority of the

Kris Krustangel:

situation. But the majority is that you're in that operating

Kris Krustangel:

room with a physician trying to help provide the best outcome

Kris Krustangel:

possible. So it's very rubber hits the road kind of scenario.

Kris Krustangel:

When you have a successful sale, you're there as the sales

Kris Krustangel:

happening and the bigger and the better. Part of that is watching

Kris Krustangel:

the patient have success and improve their their life

Kris Krustangel:

circumstances.

Wesleyne Greer:

So you know, in my world of chemical sales and

Wesleyne Greer:

capital equipment, one thing that I've always told the

Wesleyne Greer:

salespeople to do is you got to get your hands dirty, you got to

Wesleyne Greer:

get your feet you got to be in it right. So I always tell them

Wesleyne Greer:

get out there with the customers go in the field, if it's a

Wesleyne Greer:

pipeline company go out there in the pipeline, because once they

Wesleyne Greer:

actually see the product in action, it helps them become a

Wesleyne Greer:

better salesperson. So as you were going through your career

Wesleyne Greer:

and that was a project During that you had to follow us like

Wesleyne Greer:

I'm in the alar. How do you think that helped you become a

Wesleyne Greer:

better salesperson?

Kris Krustangel:

I mean, that's a great question. Because you

Kris Krustangel:

literally have to live it. I mean, you, you sell a solution

Kris Krustangel:

and you become the solution. And so there's an intimacy there and

Kris Krustangel:

a learning, that's a part of it, that makes it really kind of

Kris Krustangel:

special. But I guess you could just kind of set up the wall,

Kris Krustangel:

like you're done with the sale, you're just going to show up and

Kris Krustangel:

do like the minimal amount expected and like hope it goes

Kris Krustangel:

well. But I think to your question, it's like to get

Kris Krustangel:

dirty, you have this opportunity, you know, the

Kris Krustangel:

physician is going to use your product, you know, this patient

Kris Krustangel:

is going to have this surgery, they're gonna have outcome. But

Kris Krustangel:

there's still ways that you can help the facility, there's still

Kris Krustangel:

ways that you can help the physician identify more patients

Kris Krustangel:

or have have had the patient have a better clinical

Kris Krustangel:

experience. And those fall outside of your product. They're

Kris Krustangel:

very close, like a Venn diagram, kind of just like outside of

Kris Krustangel:

what you do. And you only figure those things out by getting

Kris Krustangel:

dirty by being in the places that the surgeries are

Kris Krustangel:

happening, being in the office with the physician getting to

Kris Krustangel:

talk to the patient, getting to talk to the institutions that

Kris Krustangel:

are making some of the buying decisions to and so I couldn't

Kris Krustangel:

agree more. I mean, getting into it, and just seeing it and

Kris Krustangel:

feeling the pain of the circumstance that they're trying

Kris Krustangel:

to solve. And hopefully, you're the solution your product is and

Kris Krustangel:

so you only get that if you're there at the

Wesleyne Greer:

point. So tell me about when you transitioned

Wesleyne Greer:

into leadership. How was that for you?

Kris Krustangel:

It was great. I mean, it's, you know, I joked

Kris Krustangel:

about being in the operating room, I think I was good. I

Kris Krustangel:

don't know if I was great. But I definitely aspire to help

Kris Krustangel:

others. I think it's fun for me now to know that I started in

Kris Krustangel:

that role. And then my team is comprised of all people that

Kris Krustangel:

usually start in that role. But I really have a passion for

Kris Krustangel:

helping other people for developing other people,

Kris Krustangel:

bringing other people up, getting them out of their

Kris Krustangel:

comfort zone, and really challenging them to be their

Kris Krustangel:

best versions of themselves and watching them have success, not

Kris Krustangel:

just in my organization, but for the whole career. And so it

Kris Krustangel:

brings out I would say the best in me. And so I've enjoyed being

Kris Krustangel:

part of a, you know, in the leadership journey over the last

Kris Krustangel:

decade. And so

Wesleyne Greer:

the company that you previously worked for versus

Wesleyne Greer:

the company right now. So you're in startup world now. So when

Wesleyne Greer:

you transition from a bigger company into a startup world,

Wesleyne Greer:

what was the biggest like, Aha, for you?

Kris Krustangel:

Oh, goodness, I'm sure for people that are

Kris Krustangel:

either in big companies or startup companies, there's a,

Kris Krustangel:

there's a lot of different answers to this. You know, I

Kris Krustangel:

think, for me, the one that probably sticks out the most is

Kris Krustangel:

just the vulnerability and transparency of your role. What

Kris Krustangel:

I mean by that is, you're just exposed, like, there's no layers

Kris Krustangel:

of the organization, there's no, you know, 15 stakeholders on the

Kris Krustangel:

decision, it's just you, and a lot of times making the

Kris Krustangel:

decision, right or die. And it's equal parts energizing, and

Kris Krustangel:

really scary if you're being honest. And I think trying to

Kris Krustangel:

get comfort with that as quickly as possible is what empowers you

Kris Krustangel:

to make good decisions and have success. You know, in a bigger

Kris Krustangel:

organization, there's usually a lot more people that are

Kris Krustangel:

involved in these decisions. And the time and just the confluence

Kris Krustangel:

of events takes longer, which is good in its own way too. But

Kris Krustangel:

when you go to a start up, and there's, you know, 25 of you

Kris Krustangel:

instead of 2500 of you, you're just doing a lot of things

Kris Krustangel:

really quick. And like I said, it's equal parts energizing and

Kris Krustangel:

scary depending on where it's at. But it's for me, personally,

Kris Krustangel:

it's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of

Wesleyne Greer:

fun. So walk us through you coming to this

Wesleyne Greer:

company, startup company, what were your first 90 days, six

Wesleyne Greer:

months, like so I help the person who's like, Okay, I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

considering going to a start up. Yeah, in a sales leadership

Wesleyne Greer:

position. What kind of things did you do?

Kris Krustangel:

That's a great question. Um, it's been only

Kris Krustangel:

eight months, but it feels like eight years is the first joke I

Kris Krustangel:

guess I'll make because there's just, there's so much content. I

Kris Krustangel:

feel like Elise from an I left my role at a big organization, I

Kris Krustangel:

was in like the fourth year of my role. So in a lot of ways,

Kris Krustangel:

I'm not saying I was a master, but I definitely knew what I was

Kris Krustangel:

doing. And things happen, easy, more easy for me than maybe

Kris Krustangel:

someone who started the role. So I exited at the end of that. And

Kris Krustangel:

I started a brand new role with a brand new organization as a

Kris Krustangel:

startup. So it's like the workflow in the education just

Kris Krustangel:

change, it flips on itself. So I think my advice and

Kris Krustangel:

consideration on this stuff is you got to prioritize, you got

Kris Krustangel:

to focus. I think that's the hardest thing that I've seen

Kris Krustangel:

with a startup is that there's so many good ideas, and you just

Kris Krustangel:

need a push, you need to push and find the great ideas, you

Kris Krustangel:

need to make sure you continue to focus and prioritize. I

Kris Krustangel:

think, you know, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, we all knew that is

Kris Krustangel:

There's a great documentary on either Showtime or HBO, just

Kris Krustangel:

about their friendship. And there's a brief subset in that

Kris Krustangel:

that story that talks about what their most successful thing in

Kris Krustangel:

their careers had been. And they both said, focus above all else.

Kris Krustangel:

And I've always kept that as kind of a guideline, I think it

Kris Krustangel:

applies more in this role than ever before is like, what are my

Kris Krustangel:

priorities? How do I make decisions around those

Kris Krustangel:

priorities? How do I help my team protect their time and make

Kris Krustangel:

decisions around those priorities? Because there's so

Kris Krustangel:

much it's like, scope, creep, scope, creep, scope creep, when

Kris Krustangel:

you're small, and you're trying to move fast? So that's my

Kris Krustangel:

advice to being effective? I'm not sure that was your question,

Kris Krustangel:

but I threw it out there. Anyway, I think my advice on why

Kris Krustangel:

you should consider is a lot of fun. And you know, we all work

Kris Krustangel:

really hard. And I think, for me, personally post pandemic

Kris Krustangel:

wise, you take an evaluation of how you invest your time, I

Kris Krustangel:

think we all did, right? Because we had a lot of time, all of a

Kris Krustangel:

sudden, and then you know, he's gone back to work world. And so

Kris Krustangel:

my point being is if you're gonna invest time in anything,

Kris Krustangel:

whether it's 100 hours or 10 hours, I think you really want

Kris Krustangel:

to be intentional more than ever about your time. And the one

Kris Krustangel:

thing about a startup is like, you know, your time has gone

Kris Krustangel:

into stuff that that is happening. It's really It may

Kris Krustangel:

not be successful. But you know, at the end of the day, if you

Kris Krustangel:

put in 12 hours or 16 hours or eight hours, or whatever it is,

Kris Krustangel:

you can like to the second say you knew what you're doing and

Kris Krustangel:

how you're doing it, why it mattered. And that's, that's a

Kris Krustangel:

ton of fun. It's a ton of fun.

Wesleyne Greer:

That's awesome, that you said a couple of things

Wesleyne Greer:

that I want to drill down in a bit more time management, this

Wesleyne Greer:

is something that a lot of salespeople don't really do well

Wesleyne Greer:

with. So what are how do you help your team manage their time

Wesleyne Greer:

knowing that, you know, hey, we're on a small team. So it's

Wesleyne Greer:

not like we have a BDR and AE and sales operations and all of

Wesleyne Greer:

these people to help us? What are some things that you tell

Wesleyne Greer:

them to help keep them on track.

Kris Krustangel:

So I would say from a time management

Kris Krustangel:

standpoint, I prefer more of a top down approach versus a

Kris Krustangel:

bottoms up approach, I'll explain that. But like, a bottom

Kris Krustangel:

up approach to me is like, Okay, we're going to create a

Kris Krustangel:

calendaring function, or we're going to block time or we're

Kris Krustangel:

going to do other things, which are all really, really

Kris Krustangel:

important. But what I've learned working with hundreds of people

Kris Krustangel:

is every so different, and their lives are different, and their

Kris Krustangel:

families and our kids and our friend, there's all different.

Kris Krustangel:

So it's like, it's not a one size fits all thing. Going back

Kris Krustangel:

to my earlier answer, you know, the thing that is the same as we

Kris Krustangel:

all have the same priorities, or we should have the same

Kris Krustangel:

priorities. And so the top down approach for me is to make sure

Kris Krustangel:

that usually on a bi weekly basis, we're stating where the

Kris Krustangel:

priority is. And then we're kind of going back and qualifying how

Kris Krustangel:

we perform to that priority as a byproduct of that discussion.

Kris Krustangel:

That's where you get into say, Well, how did you manage your

Kris Krustangel:

time, right? Because that's what happens. Like, if you're

Kris Krustangel:

effective, and you knew you did the right things, you need to do

Kris Krustangel:

more of them. If you're ineffective, then probably

Kris Krustangel:

something else got in your way, what was that thing and should

Kris Krustangel:

have gotten your way? And that's where I think the granularity

Kris Krustangel:

then making choices about how you use your calendar, how you

Kris Krustangel:

scheduled time, or email, tech, Slack, whatever it is, that

Kris Krustangel:

really uncovers itself. And for me, I guess my advice is,

Kris Krustangel:

priority should be number one, when you think about time

Kris Krustangel:

management, because the second thing is every is really

Kris Krustangel:

different. And just because you read something or hear something

Kris Krustangel:

doesn't mean it's going to work for you and your lifestyle, or

Kris Krustangel:

your sleep schedule your ex or whatever it is right. So but if

Kris Krustangel:

we agree that these are the priorities of work, then you

Kris Krustangel:

should be able to acclimate yourself accordingly and make

Kris Krustangel:

time management a part of what you do. And you have to do for

Kris Krustangel:

that matter.

Wesleyne Greer:

So how do you deal with those salespeople that

Wesleyne Greer:

still don't get the ones that you're like, This is what you

Wesleyne Greer:

have to do. And you kind of let them be autonomous, and they're

Wesleyne Greer:

still underperforming? Well,

Kris Krustangel:

this is a whole different conversation. But

Kris Krustangel:

accountability is really, really high. For me, I mean, I kind of

Kris Krustangel:

have a mantra of challenge directly care compassionately,

Kris Krustangel:

which means that I want to be very direct and accountable with

Kris Krustangel:

the teams that I work with about their performance. But I do it

Kris Krustangel:

from a place of sincerity, like in an positive intent, like I'm

Kris Krustangel:

trying to genuinely help someone, if you want to be a

Kris Krustangel:

sales rep and you want to be successful, and you got to go

Kris Krustangel:

from here to there, and you're not getting there, and you're

Kris Krustangel:

willing to take my coaching and feedback, you should probably

Kris Krustangel:

get closer, I'm not saying I have all the answers, but you

Kris Krustangel:

should get closer if you're not exercising and utilizing the

Kris Krustangel:

feedback that is provided. And that's a huge problem. And when

Kris Krustangel:

it becomes a huge problem, then then we have a performance

Kris Krustangel:

conversation, it's just, it's not going to end up being the

Kris Krustangel:

fit that we look for. And that's good, too. Because what I've

Kris Krustangel:

learned and I've had a lot of those over time is they end up

Kris Krustangel:

finding a better skill set that mirrors what they are and what

Kris Krustangel:

they want to be and have a ton of success with it. Right? So I

Kris Krustangel:

guess there's there's two parts of that I'm very direct with it.

Kris Krustangel:

But I'm also very okay with it at this point, knowing that

Kris Krustangel:

there's other opportunities on the other side, because you got

Kris Krustangel:

to commit to getting better. And if you're not getting there,

Kris Krustangel:

then that's you. That's just you not doing the work.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yeah, you know, the thing is, it's that is so

Wesleyne Greer:

powerful, because a lot of times what we do is we kind of drag

Wesleyne Greer:

those people along, we're like, okay, next month, next quarter.

Wesleyne Greer:

And as you said, it's the accountability. It's the I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

coaching you, I'm talking to you each week, these are the

Wesleyne Greer:

priorities that I said. And if it's a you issue, it's a

Wesleyne Greer:

performance issue. And at the end of the day, you're not

Wesleyne Greer:

helping the team, you're not helping yourself. So let's find

Wesleyne Greer:

a better position for you. Right. And I think as a leader

Wesleyne Greer:

that we have to be realistic with ourselves and don't beat

Wesleyne Greer:

yourself up. Because not everybody you hire not everybody

Wesleyne Greer:

who's working with you is going to be 100% 100%

Kris Krustangel:

May I give a quick public service

Kris Krustangel:

announcement. Go ahead. To all the leaders out there. I have

Kris Krustangel:

never met a single leader that regretted acting too early when

Kris Krustangel:

it comes to performance conversations ever, ever. I've

Kris Krustangel:

avoided absolutes in my life as much as possible. But it always

Kris Krustangel:

is I should have acted earlier, I should have this conversation.

Kris Krustangel:

I shouldn't let it fester. I should have seen this. It never

Kris Krustangel:

is like Oh, I I address their underperformance too quickly. I

Kris Krustangel:

just don't hear that. And so in you know what the good news is

Kris Krustangel:

probably because we're kind people and conflict is hard. And

Kris Krustangel:

these conversations are hard. I'm not. I'm not saying just

Kris Krustangel:

like flip a switch and go but just have that fire in your

Kris Krustangel:

belly and the clarity in your head and know, as a leader if

Kris Krustangel:

you see something that if you dress it with, you know,

Kris Krustangel:

directly and you care about a person, it's a good thing to do.

Kris Krustangel:

It makes us better. It makes the person better and that's okay.

Kris Krustangel:

That's what we're all striving for. So sorry, I just had to get

Kris Krustangel:

that that public service announcement out there.

Wesleyne Greer:

That is okay, I have a thing. It's hire slow

Wesleyne Greer:

fire fast and people are like, oh, yeah, and the thing is, it's

Wesleyne Greer:

like okay, a salesperson is leaving a salesperson is gone.

Wesleyne Greer:

Oh, they said I can add a new position if you want to go fast,

Wesleyne Greer:

because we're salespeople innately right and so we want

Wesleyne Greer:

everything fast, but You have to do your due diligence upfront,

Wesleyne Greer:

right? This is not just like a new deal that you're closing,

Wesleyne Greer:

you have to do your due diligence. And you have to take

Wesleyne Greer:

that person through all of the wringer. Right. Like I have a

Wesleyne Greer:

whole process on how I bring them in, I make them do a

Wesleyne Greer:

presentation, like, do you not talk in front of people, right?

Wesleyne Greer:

Can you do recent like all of these things? And literally,

Wesleyne Greer:

when we have that 90 Day onboarding, it's like, okay, did

Wesleyne Greer:

they check this box? Did they check that box? So you know,

Wesleyne Greer:

otherwise, you have this person who you're dragging along for 12

Wesleyne Greer:

months, and they haven't hit their quota. And they're

Wesleyne Greer:

bringing you down, and there is this whole thing? And so I love

Wesleyne Greer:

what you said, it's like, don't feel bad about it. Just move

Wesleyne Greer:

quick.

Kris Krustangel:

Do it, do it for sure. Good points.

Wesleyne Greer:

So in your current position, you are in the

Wesleyne Greer:

process of growing and building. Are you more into Have you

Wesleyne Greer:

gotten I call them industry insiders are more people like,

Wesleyne Greer:

hey, I can train you up? And what you need to know. And you

Wesleyne Greer:

can be great on your sales team? Yeah, that's

Kris Krustangel:

a great question. So to make sure I

Kris Krustangel:

understand just you're talking more about who's going to join

Kris Krustangel:

the team? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. So we have

Kris Krustangel:

somewhat of a, I don't wanna say myopic view. But we tend to be

Kris Krustangel:

kind of isolated in what we do in this particular segment of

Kris Krustangel:

medical device. Because there's medical sales, there's medical

Kris Krustangel:

device, there's implantable device, which is kind of where

Kris Krustangel:

we are. And it's unique, because we not only have to sell and be

Kris Krustangel:

super technical, because we're talking about neuromodulation

Kris Krustangel:

neurophysiology, but we also have to be super empathetic and

Kris Krustangel:

be able to work directly with a patient. So the skill set that

Kris Krustangel:

we tend to see in my team is is a little unusual, in a good way

Kris Krustangel:

case, anybody's listening, I'm not saying it's bad, it's just

Kris Krustangel:

you're very technical, but you're a salesperson, and then

Kris Krustangel:

you're kind of like a nurse, you know what I mean? It's like all

Kris Krustangel:

these things together. That being said, it ends up being

Kris Krustangel:

that we find a lot of people that are in the space that no of

Kris Krustangel:

it, or have had experience, maybe they have a clinical

Kris Krustangel:

background, and maybe they're a nurse, or something like that,

Kris Krustangel:

that we tend to kind of grab and bring in that all being said,

Kris Krustangel:

I've been in situations where organizations have relied on

Kris Krustangel:

like, 100%, we're only gonna go hire other people in the

Kris Krustangel:

industry. And I've been in other situations where like, No, we're

Kris Krustangel:

gonna get everybody fresh, like completely diverse opinion. And

Kris Krustangel:

what I've kind of landed on is like the 75% rule, which is 75%,

Kris Krustangel:

of who we bring in will have intimate knowledge of what we

Kris Krustangel:

do, but that we want to maintain this quotient of diversity of

Kris Krustangel:

thought and perspective and experience and energy and

Kris Krustangel:

background. Because that's where innovation comes from. That's

Kris Krustangel:

where growth comes from. And so we may meant for new like

Kris Krustangel:

leaders, three of them probably got promoted from being a sales

Kris Krustangel:

rep before but one, I'm probably gonna look to go outside and

Kris Krustangel:

find someone who doesn't have that exact experience, because I

Kris Krustangel:

think that creates a different and very optimal team dynamic

Kris Krustangel:

based on what I believe is makes a lot of sense for our business.

Wesleyne Greer:

Yeah. And you know, I think that it there has

Wesleyne Greer:

to be a balance. Like you said, some people are only about, I

Wesleyne Greer:

call them industry insiders. And some people are only like, no,

Wesleyne Greer:

no, no, no, I just want to train somebody, I don't want them to

Wesleyne Greer:

be, you know, damaged goods, if you will, right. But there has

Wesleyne Greer:

to be a mix. Like there's a sales team that I'm helping to

Wesleyne Greer:

put together. And that's what we did, it was actually more 5050.

Wesleyne Greer:

It was like, really strong salespeople industry

Wesleyne Greer:

experienced. And so they talk right, and so they can share

Wesleyne Greer:

like, Okay, this is how I sell this is the what the product is

Wesleyne Greer:

let's go on joint sales calls together, right. And when you

Wesleyne Greer:

build that organization, that way, it just benefits everybody,

Wesleyne Greer:

it benefits you as a leader, because they're speaking cross

Wesleyne Greer:

functionally, and they're talking to each other. And

Wesleyne Greer:

they're helping each other grow. And so it actually helps make

Wesleyne Greer:

your job easier.

Kris Krustangel:

I totally agree. I couldn't agree more,

Kris Krustangel:

especially because there's only one of you generally, will

Kris Krustangel:

always and I always talk about being a rate limiting factor as

Kris Krustangel:

a leader like you don't want to be an obstacle you don't want to

Kris Krustangel:

be the reason that an organization performs slowly,

Kris Krustangel:

because it has to go through your you have to train someone

Kris Krustangel:

or you're the final decision maker, you want to go the

Kris Krustangel:

opposite direction, you want to create the team as effective as

Kris Krustangel:

possible away from you. And you do that by empowering them to

Kris Krustangel:

kind of create this. I almost call it like a flywheel. I think

Kris Krustangel:

Jim Collins calls it a flywheel where it's just like people are

Kris Krustangel:

growing and making themselves better all by themselves. Just

Kris Krustangel:

by the way you set up the dynamics and environment. So

Kris Krustangel:

I'm, I'm a huge believer in that.

Wesleyne Greer:

So earlier, you mentioned focus as a word,

Wesleyne Greer:

right? How do you focus in a startup?

Kris Krustangel:

Oh, my goodness, coffee? I don't know.

Kris Krustangel:

That's a really hard question. Because like this, could we go

Kris Krustangel:

in a completely different direction about like, your brain

Kris Krustangel:

and meditation and just a bunch of other things that you just

Kris Krustangel:

got to do to keep your clarity. I think, for me, I tried to do

Kris Krustangel:

the two check ins in a week with the team but to check ins for

Kris Krustangel:

the day, which means like, I set my intent in the morning, which

Kris Krustangel:

is also like priority, which is like a meditation, journaling

Kris Krustangel:

thing, whatever. It's all kind of the same. Like, these are the

Kris Krustangel:

things that I need to get done today based on no distraction,

Kris Krustangel:

right? Like, it's the morning, it's a blank slate. And then you

Kris Krustangel:

get to the end of the day, and you say, Well, how did I do?

Kris Krustangel:

Right? And I think that process, which is not mine, I'm sure I

Kris Krustangel:

read it somewhere to like helps me stay on track with what I'm

Kris Krustangel:

trying to accomplish. Right. The years are long, but the days are

Kris Krustangel:

short. I think that's how it goes. And so you got to kind of

Kris Krustangel:

just make sure you're staying as close as you can to the intent.

Kris Krustangel:

I think if you start your day or your week without the intent or

Kris Krustangel:

the focus, then it's quickly it's easy just to be busy,

Kris Krustangel:

right? But, you know, you got to continue to measure that work

Kris Krustangel:

against where you We're trying to go. And so I'm not sure I'm

Kris Krustangel:

answering your question, because it's more of a tactical answer,

Kris Krustangel:

which is just like, every day, I'm trying to say, this is what

Kris Krustangel:

I want to focus on. And I'm trying to qualify it. But it's

Kris Krustangel:

really hard. I mean, it's really hard. I mean, I have anxiety

Kris Krustangel:

about those red bubbles on my iPhone about things that I've

Kris Krustangel:

left, unread and untouched. And this job has created more of

Kris Krustangel:

those red bubbles and I could ever imagine, so I'm just trying

Kris Krustangel:

to balance it all.

Wesleyne Greer:

So I asked you that because my, my word for the

Wesleyne Greer:

year. So each year, I kind of set my intention on a specific

Wesleyne Greer:

word, and it's focused, right? And so I find myself like, and I

Wesleyne Greer:

verbalize this. So everybody on my team knows like, this is the

Wesleyne Greer:

word and this is actually the word for the team is using. So

Wesleyne Greer:

they're always like Wesleyan. Are we focused? Is this helping

Wesleyne Greer:

us get to where we're trying to go? And I think like you said,

Wesleyne Greer:

it's like, you set your intention, whether it's a day,

Wesleyne Greer:

the year, the month, the week, the quarter, set your intention,

Wesleyne Greer:

and check in with yourself to make sure that you're moving at

Wesleyne Greer:

the right cadence, because I think especially in the startup

Wesleyne Greer:

world, it happens in large corporations, too, you just find

Wesleyne Greer:

yourself doing so much. And it's like, we can do a lot. We can

Wesleyne Greer:

touch a lot. But I'm just one person, I just have one team,

Wesleyne Greer:

and we just don't have the bandwidth to do it. Yeah, I

Wesleyne Greer:

would

Kris Krustangel:

say just an adjacent to that, too. Or you're

Kris Krustangel:

kind of saying it, you know, you asked like, how do I stay

Kris Krustangel:

focused, but I think it's important to whether you're a

Kris Krustangel:

leader at a startup, pretty much everybody's a leader, right?

Kris Krustangel:

Because there's only so many of you is to have a collegial

Kris Krustangel:

approach to ask people why we're choosing to do things, because

Kris Krustangel:

sometimes they need help to be calibrated on their focus or the

Kris Krustangel:

organizational focus. So you know, I have multiple

Kris Krustangel:

stakeholders, clinical operations, and marketing and

Kris Krustangel:

all these other people that I work with across our

Kris Krustangel:

organization. And they'll come up and say, well, we need your

Kris Krustangel:

team to do XY and Z. In a first pass. I'm like, Well, does that

Kris Krustangel:

really fit into our priority and our focus? And so I'll just say

Kris Krustangel:

why, like, why are we doing this? Where did this come from?

Kris Krustangel:

Help me understand that. And sometimes it's just an education

Kris Krustangel:

for me to be like, oh, yeah, totally fits into our focus, I

Kris Krustangel:

get it. Lack of education. I mean, but occasionally, it's

Kris Krustangel:

like, you're right, I didn't really think about that someone

Kris Krustangel:

asked me to go chase the tennis ball, I wouldn't chase the

Kris Krustangel:

tennis ball, and you're standing there. So give me the tennis

Kris Krustangel:

ball. And it's like, okay, let's have this conversation. So we

Kris Krustangel:

get aligned. And I think, again, public service announcement

Kris Krustangel:

number two, as a leader be empowered to ask why just ask

Kris Krustangel:

why get people's understanding of why they're coming to you and

Kris Krustangel:

what they're asking for. So you can maximize the outcome,

Kris Krustangel:

because that's what it's really about completing the task. It's

Kris Krustangel:

about maximizing the outcome and be productive. So yeah, that's

Kris Krustangel:

my thought on helping others focus too.

Wesleyne Greer:

And, you know, I think that the one thing that

Wesleyne Greer:

managers leaders don't do well is I always call it managing up.

Wesleyne Greer:

So it's like, hey, the boss tells you to do this or ask you

Wesleyne Greer:

where you are on this, you just do it, or you just drown, or you

Wesleyne Greer:

don't tell them what you're doing. Right? You're just like,

Wesleyne Greer:

I'm focused right here. I'm just laser focused on this. But I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

like, it's a conversation. Like you don't always like you said,

Wesleyne Greer:

just ask why can you help me understand why you need me to do

Wesleyne Greer:

this? In three hours? Like, I know what's important, but

Wesleyne Greer:

doesn't have to be done in three hours? That's okay. That's

Wesleyne Greer:

actually why they hired you. And they believed in you, because of

Wesleyne Greer:

that tenacity that you have some

Kris Krustangel:

Yeah, well said completely was completely

Kris Krustangel:

applicable. It's so real world, like, every day, my boss will

Kris Krustangel:

ask me for something. And I will usually ask him, what's my

Kris Krustangel:

timeline? And, you know, where should I prioritize this. And

Kris Krustangel:

that's not to be like, more difficult, but it's just to

Kris Krustangel:

understand, because there's a he hired me to do a lot of

Kris Krustangel:

different things. So I gotta be able to really understand where

Kris Krustangel:

this fits, and then make the time for it. So I guess I would

Kris Krustangel:

say, I hope that, you know, whoever's listening is in a

Kris Krustangel:

space where they feel comfortable to do that. And you

Kris Krustangel:

know, and if they don't, you know, just try to set that

Kris Krustangel:

expectation and even tell your, their boss or manager, hey, next

Kris Krustangel:

time this comes up, do you mind if I ask you, because sometimes

Kris Krustangel:

that's easier, you kind of set the expectation, you're gonna

Kris Krustangel:

ask that it feels a little bit more easy to get across it just

Kris Krustangel:

like shooting a shot all of a sudden, so but that is also

Kris Krustangel:

critical to the health I think of an organization as they grow,

Kris Krustangel:

for sure.

Wesleyne Greer:

Absolutely. So you've had a dynamic career.

Wesleyne Greer:

Tell me what is one thing that you are most proud of a lot of

Wesleyne Greer:

times people like, oh, I can't pick one thing. But what is one

Wesleyne Greer:

thing that you're most proud of and accomplishing in your

Wesleyne Greer:

career?

Kris Krustangel:

I mean, it's hard for me truthfully, because

Kris Krustangel:

like I don't, I don't feel like I'm done yet. So I don't really

Kris Krustangel:

know what I'm capable of yet. I think that this is gonna sound

Kris Krustangel:

like really honest, but it is very honest, is that I think the

Kris Krustangel:

thing that I'm proud of most right now is being in a really

Kris Krustangel:

difficult situation, having the wisdom and confidence to know

Kris Krustangel:

what I know, but also humility of what I don't know. And I know

Kris Krustangel:

that's not like a like, that's not a SMART goal, right? It's

Kris Krustangel:

that specific, measurable, it's, let's call those things like I

Kris Krustangel:

get that. But I realized now more than ever being in this

Kris Krustangel:

position is a really critical factors to have, because there's

Kris Krustangel:

just so much coming at me any given day, and there's so many

Kris Krustangel:

different egos and stakeholders and resources. And I'm just

Kris Krustangel:

trying to maintain that objectivity of like, okay, I'm

Kris Krustangel:

really good at these things. But I know I'm not good at those

Kris Krustangel:

things. And I'm also okay with people knowing that and being

Kris Krustangel:

like, completely exposed to it, so they can help me get there.

Kris Krustangel:

Because I think ultimately, what I'm doing now will be probably

Kris Krustangel:

the biggest accomplishment I have, I mean, hopefully bring

Kris Krustangel:

this company to you know, an IPO situation where you ring a bell

Kris Krustangel:

like those are things you dream off, I mean, literally dream of,

Kris Krustangel:

and we're on that runway right now. And so if I do the job I

Kris Krustangel:

need to do, I think that will ultimately be one of the biggest

Kris Krustangel:

things I've done in my career. But I think that starts now with

Kris Krustangel:

how I behave and I bring myself to work and you know how I try

Kris Krustangel:

to do the best work? I can.

Wesleyne Greer:

I love it. You're one an introspective

Wesleyne Greer:

leader, right. And I think that we all need to sometimes be

Wesleyne Greer:

humble. And just like you said that my work isn't done. I'm

Wesleyne Greer:

just I feel like I'm just getting started. Yeah, I've been

Wesleyne Greer:

doing this for two decades. I'm just getting started though. I

Wesleyne Greer:

love it. I love it. I love it. So Chris, if people want to

Wesleyne Greer:

connect with you, what is the one best way? Yeah,

Kris Krustangel:

I mean, I always go to LinkedIn. That's

Kris Krustangel:

kind of my social media platform of choice. You know, I try to

Kris Krustangel:

keep it balanced between work and just introspection and

Kris Krustangel:

positivity and different things I'm reading and looking at. I

Kris Krustangel:

think we all need each other from time to time to pick them

Kris Krustangel:

up. So LinkedIn is probably the best place. Love to hear your

Kris Krustangel:

feedback, shoot me a message, I try to the best to respond to

Kris Krustangel:

everything sincerely, and hope to connect with you in real

Kris Krustangel:

life. So

Wesleyne Greer:

awesome. Well, thank you so much for being a

Wesleyne Greer:

guest. This was a wonderful conversation. We really got to

Wesleyne Greer:

dig deep below the surface.

Kris Krustangel:

Yeah, thank you so much for making the time I

Kris Krustangel:

really enjoyed the conversation as well.

Wesleyne Greer:

Awesome. And that was another episode of the

Wesleyne Greer:

science of selling. Remember, leave us a review. Let me know

Wesleyne Greer:

did you like the interview? Did you not like the interview and

Wesleyne Greer:

remember in everything that you do transform your sales.

Wesleyne Greer:

Thank you for joining us today on the snack sized sales

Wesleyne Greer:

podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave us

Wesleyne Greer:

a review. Learn how to continue increasing your bottom line by

Wesleyne Greer:

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Wesleyne Greer:

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About the Podcast

Transformed Sales
Transforming Sales Managers to Lead Using Behavior-Based Skills Development
As a sales manager, you are judged by the performance of your team. And you're praised when they do well. But one thing that you've not been able to figure out is how to get everyone on your team consistently hitting quota every single month. Sales leadership is difficult.

The Transformed Sales podcast equips sales leaders with the skills to develop high-performance teams. We provide coaching strategies for improving sales team performance, mentoring developing sellers, and providing ongoing support for best practices. As a result sales leaders can guide, create, and nurture long-term relationships with their teams.

You will learn how to enhance your ability to engage in productive conversations with internal team members, resulting in a collaborative, dynamic environment where sellers feel supported.

Transformed Sales assists businesses in developing and building the culture necessary to build high-performing sales teams. In this leadership coaching program, coaching strategies are offered that can be used to improve the performance of sales teams. These strategies provide ongoing support and reinforcement of best practices